MacRumors

Smart wireless earphones company Bragi has been making waves in the "hearables" market since 2014, when it debuted a Kickstarter for The Dash, the company's original pair of truly wireless intelligent earphones that subsequently launched to the public in early 2016. After numerous Bragi OS updates to The Dash, and the lower-priced, lower-specced launch of The Headphone, this year Bragi revealed the true successor to its original device in The Dash Pro.

Staying true to its predecessor, The Dash Pro ($330) remains a complete platform of its own that connects to your smartphone and provides workout tracking, 4GB of onboard music storage, a battery case that recharges the earphones for up to 30 hours, and a detailed collection of Fit Sleeves and Fit Tips to ensure The Dash Pro fits in any ear. In May, Bragi also announced an ultra-custom hearable available at select audiologists, The Dash Pro tailored by Starkey, but this review focuses solely on the mass market device, The Dash Pro.

Design

From the retail packaging to the satisfying snap of the battery case sliding home into the outer aluminum shell, The Dash Pro's premium feel is evident throughout the initial setup experience. The new minimal packaging ties in better with The Dash Pro's barely-there aesthetic, and not much else is lost in terms of the original box's step-by-step instructions on how to get the device up and running.

The Dash Pro earphones are nearly identical to The Dash, so anyone looking for a massive design change from the originals will be disappointed (the only subtle difference I noted were small tweaks made to the size and angle of the in-ear curve of the earphones). I always found the sleek and smooth finish of The Dash to be visually appealing, and that remains true for The Dash Pro and its new silver aluminum charging case.

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The U.S. government has lifted the in-cabin ban on laptops and other large electronic devices on inbound flights from Dubai and Istanbul, according to Emirates and Turkish Airlines.

An Emirates spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday that the ban was lifted for flights out of Dubai after the airline adopted new security measures announced last week by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Turkish Airlines tweeted on Tuesday that the ban had been lifted, while CEO Bilal Eksi informed Reuters that he also expected restrictions to be lifted for U.K.-bound flights.

The original ban came into effect in March on flights originating at 10 airports in eight countries, including Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey. The ban was imposed after "evaluated intelligence" suggested a bomb threat that involved smaller bombs being concealed in electronic devices taken aboard aircraft.

The new enhanced security measures were announced on June 29 and require additional time to screen passengers. The new protocol takes effect within three weeks of the announcement and will affect around 325,000 daily passengers travelling on 180 airlines from 280 airports around the world, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Saudi Arabia Airlines (Saudia) expects the ban to lifted on flights from Jeddah and Riyadh by July 19, state news agency SPA reported on Tuesday.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is seeking clarification from Apple over its decision to ban an app extension that lets Westpac bank customers use social media and mobile messaging platforms to make payments.

Known as Westpac Keyboard, the feature was announced in March and let the bank's customers change the default keyboard in social messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Snapchat, in order to make payments to friends, family, and businesses.

Apple wrote to Westpac last week to tell the bank that its three-month-old keyboard feature would no longer be allowed on iPhones, according to The Australian Financial Review. Staff were reportedly perplexed by Apple's generic explanation letter, which suggested that keyboards should not be able to send money, or that it may offend some users.

Westpac has written to its customers to let them know the keyboard app extension will be removed in July. The app extension was the first in the Asia Pacific region to enable payments, but Apple has previously approved similar apps from other institutions, including India's ICICI Bank and Spain's Banco Sabadell and CaixaBank.    

The bank has not commented on the reasons behind Apple's decision, but sources told AFR that Westpac had already addressed security concerns initially raised by Apple and had the app approved from that perspective. The ACCC consumer watchdog has now said it will be "seeking a proper explanation" from Apple to make sure it is not an anti-competitive move.

Westpac was among a group of institutions alongside Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, which unsuccessfully asked the ACCC to allow them to collectively bargain with Apple over access to the iPhone's NFC chip to allow their own payments services to work alongside Apple Pay.

Apple is launching its own payments service that will work over the company's iMessage chat service in iOS 11, which is set to be released in the fall. The service will be available in the U.S. first but no date has been set for its arrival in Australia.

(Thanks, Jason!)

Samsung is developing a voice-activated smart speaker to rival the likes of the Amazon Echo and Apple's forthcoming HomePod, according to a report published on Tuesday.

The project, internally codenamed "Vega", will be based on Samsung's Bixby virtual assistant, but many of the speaker's features and specifications have yet to be decided, according to sources who spoke to The Wall Street Journal. Development is said to have been going on for more than a year but has reportedly been hampered by delays to Bixby itself.

The company's Siri rival was first announced in March ahead of the debut of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+, but an English-language version of the assistant has yet to make it into Samsung's phones because of performance issues. Samsung now says Bixby is unlikely to be fully introduced before the second half of July.

The connected speaker market has seen rapid growth over the last few years. Amazon released its Echo range of speakers in 2014, before the Google Home appeared a year later. Since then, Microsoft has opened up its Cortana assistant for use in third-party speakers, while just last month Apple announced it Siri-powered HomePod will be available by the end of the year.

Amazon's Echo commands more than 70 percent of the U.S. market for connected speakers, with the Google Home capturing around 24 percent, according to eMarketer, a research firm. The number of Americans using voice-activated speakers will reach about 36 million this year, said eMarketer, double last year's figure.

Two years ago Apple Music officially launched, alongside the debut of the service's 24/7 streaming radio channel Beats 1. In celebration of that anniversary, Beats 1 DJs Zane Lowe, Ebro Darden and Julie Adenuga have given an interview to Highsnobiety to discuss their career high points working on Beats 1, the evolving landscape of digital radio, and more.

Zane Lowe has spoken about his origins with Beats 1 and Apple Music in the past, and in today's interview he again references "perfect" timing in his move to Apple and hosting Beats 1. Lowe mentioned excitement about sharing new music with listeners -- from a live demo of Vince Staples' new record to discussing the Baby Driver soundtrack with Edgar Wright -- and said that he hopes Beats 1 is the "ultimate clubhouse for artists."

When I found myself in a room with Drake and Oliver and Future for the first time, talking about what OVO SOUND Radio would feel like, that was only a few weeks after I arrived. That was a pretty mind blowing experience to have. The quality and vision of that show. I get that feeling every time I turn on Beats 1 and Mike D is doing a radio show or Lorde is taking over the station and playing in a personal and talking about us in a personal and engaged way. Every time something exciting happens on Beats 1 we get closer to our goal which is to be the ultimate clubhouse for artists to be able to express themselves and enjoy the process of sharing music and sharing information.

Concerning Beats 1 and its musical genres, Darden mentioned that just because he's known as "the hip-hop guy" doesn't mean his show won't take the chance at highlighting other genres.

People think I’m “the hip-hop guy”, and I am that. But I’m also a music fan across the board. I’m amazed at how much great music is out there from all around the world. I get put on to new sounds from a myriad of genres and countries every day. There are tracks in other languages that I don’t understand, but I feel the message regardless. Beats 1 has definitely expanded my worldview.

When asked about the most difficult moment he's been faced with working on Beats 1, Lowe said it was deciding the basic definition of the service, mentioning that he asked himself, "...is this even radio?" With the rise of streaming services, like Apple Music, Lowe mentioned that the Beats 1 team had a chance to do something different with their version of traditional radio and decided to create a foundation of trust for artists that "let them drive their own conversation."

We had three months to build Beats 1 from scratch… the first question we asked on Day One was… is this even radio? Radio had been driving pop music in the world for 50 years, and for all of those years, that was the only way to get a hit record. I’m not sure that’s still the case. Radio listenership like that is declining and in some cases gone.

We had to face up to the reality that the old expectations may not fit the artist anymore. We have to trust the artists. Let them drive their own conversation. Trust that they know their audience. They know how to get the results. They know how this works. With that in mind, we built Beats 1, where artists can own their own real estate, drive their own message, satisfy their audience in their own voice, and hopefully, add value. Free has to lead somewhere. It has to collaborate. It has to build trust. And it’s working.

A few months after Apple Music launched, Beats 1 began saving replays of recent shows so listeners could revisit a segment that they missed at any time. Now, the "On Demand" section of Beats 1 includes recent shows, playlists, and a topic description for each of the DJ's shows after they air live.

Ending the interview, Lowe mentioned that even two years into the life of Beats 1, he's "never been more excited about where Beats 1 is at this moment, and this is just the beginning." Check out the full interview with Lowe, Darden, and Adenuga on Highsnobiety here.

While Samsung remains the world's the dominant supplier of OLED panels and will supply Apple with up to 92 million OLED screens over the next two years, a new report today suggests that Apple is looking to diversify its supply chain by investing $1.75-2.62 billion into LG Display's OLED manufacturing. Specifically, Apple and LG Display are said to be considering a deal that would funnel Apple's investment into LG Display's new "E6" OLED plant, which would be "exclusively dedicated to Apple orders" (via The Korea Herald).

LG Display's production on OLED screens is still far off, with its output for Apple predicted to start sometime in early 2019, which still places Samsung as the reigning supplier of OLED components for Apple over the next few years. No deal between Apple and LG Display is confirmed yet, with the companies having "tentatively" agreed upon the investment plans and more finalized details expected to come later in the month.

Apple is reportedly in talks with LG Display to invest about 2 to 3 trillion won (US$1.75-2.62 billion) into the Korean display maker’s new OLED production lines exclusively dedicated to Apple orders.

“Samsung Display is the only display maker that meets Apple’s strict quality criteria for now,” said an industry source on condition of anonymity. “LG Display is said to be meeting about 70 percent level of the requirements, while Chinese display makers are still struggling to catch up with that of LG.”

For the 2017 line of iPhones, rumors have been pointing towards the "iPhone 8" as having an OLED screen, while the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus will include standard LCD panels. The iPhone 8 is believed to include a 5.8-inch edge-to-edge display, glass body, wireless charging, no physical Home button, and potentially 3D sensing features for facial recognition.

A report out of Korea earlier this year stated that Apple aims to make every iPhone with an OLED screen by 2019, which would fall in line with today's report of Apple's and LG Display's deal being eyed for a 2019 production ramp-up on OLED screens.

A popular virtual private network service has been forced to close in China on orders from the government, it emerged on Monday. Bloomberg reported that GreenVPN sent a notice to its customers saying it would end the service from July 1 after "receiving a notice from regulatory departments".

VPNs route and encrypt internet traffic to servers outside of the country, making them popular with users in China who have limited access to online content because of government restrictions. VPNs allow access to sites like Facebook and Twitter, which are otherwise blocked by China's "Great Firewall".

Some users of the GreenVPN iPhone app reported that the service failed to load over the weekend. Apps for GreenVPN and SuperVPN are still listed in the App Store, but users reportedly had trouble downloading them or turning them on. Bloomberg was unable to contact SuperVPN's offices, while Apple didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

It's unknown whether the timing of the VPN shutdown is related to the politically sensitive 20th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from Great Britain to China. In January, China's Ministry of Industry and Information announced new priorities for controlling online content which included restrictions on VPNs.

Last year, Apple faced its own issues with Chinese state regulators regarding a controversial independent movie which led to the shut down of iTunes and iBooks in the country.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Soon after Jay-Z's newest album, "4:44," launched as an exclusive on his own streaming service Tidal, sources speaking to Billboard this weekend have said that 4:44 will be coming to Apple Music and iTunes later this week. Tidal and Sprint are believed to have a one week exclusivity window on 4:44, so it's predicted that the album will launch on Apple Music next Friday, July 7.

A rumor last year stated that Apple was in talks to purchase Tidal, but Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine eventually denied those reports by saying, "We're really running our own race. We're not looking to acquire any streaming services." For a brief period of time earlier this year, Jay-Z even removed all of his albums from Apple Music and Spotify, although most eventually reappeared on Apple Music a few days later.

A track on 4:44, called "Smile," references the Apple Music and Tidal feud by specifically calling out Jimmy Iovine (via Business Insider).

F*** a slice of the apple pie, want my own cake
Chargin' my own fate
Respect Jimmy Iovine
But he gotta respect the Elohim as a whole new regime

The ongoing rivalry between the two competing music services is said to be negatively affecting the music industry as a whole, according to Kanye West who tweeted about the two companies last summer. Later in 2016, West blamed the fight between Apple Music and Tidal as the main factor behind the reason why there won't be a sequel to Watch The Throne, his 2011 collaboration with Jay-Z. Kanye's album "The Life of Pablo" began as a Tidal exclusive as well, before it eventually streamed on Apple Music and other services after a few months.

Exclusive deals for services like Apple Music, Tidal, and Spotify have come under fire in recent years by music labels and critics, but Apple has continued releasing exclusive music on its streaming service. Tidal has done the same thing with 4:44, tying the album into the service's recent acquisition by Sprint.

That source also confirmed that fans need to sign up for Sprint service in order to get the album if they are not already Tidal subscribers. Otherwise, as noted by disgruntled Jay fan hit-making producer Mark Ronson, it is only available to those who were pre-established Tidal subscribers before June 26 or already had Sprint service.

If this weekend's report is accurate, Tidal/Sprint's exclusivity window will be ending very soon, allowing more users to get a chance to listen to 4:44 than if it remained a streaming exclusive on Tidal. The sources didn't confirm whether 4:44 will make it to other streaming services in addition to Apple Music, like Spotify, after Tidal's exclusivity window ends.

Red Lion Hotels today announced plans to enhance guest experiences with a series of Apple-related technology upgrades, including Apple TVs in hotel rooms, an updated iOS app that allows guests to check in using their iPhones, iPad kiosks for lobby areas, and more.

Red Lion Hotels is starting to add in-room Apple TVs to its "Hotel RL" branded properties. The TVs will be equipped with Red Lion Hotel apps that allow guests to watch DirecTV channels and the Hotel RL Living Stage channel that highlights local artists and performers performing live across the Hotel RL brand.

Hello Rewards, the Red Lion Hotel app, is being updated with new functionality that will allow guests to manage loyalty accounts and check in and check out right on their iPhones. The app will include digital keys, so guests don't need to visit the hotel's registration desk at all - the iPhone can unlock a room door.

"We are constantly looking at ways to service guests with tailored experiences," said Edwards. "We understand that sometimes guests don't prefer engaging with people during travel, so we created a way for people to arrive, check in, proceed directly to their room, and even check out. We want to accommodate them in every way that we can, and our updated Hello Rewards app with new check-in and check-out features, plus digital room keys, deliver on that promise."

With these additions, Red Lion Hotels is aiming to create a connected experience for guests from check in to check out. Prior to arriving at the hotel, guests will receive a text message with a link to the Hello Rewards application, and from there, Hello Rewards can be used to manage the entire hotel experience. Along with serving as a digital key, the app can allow guests to communicate with hotel staff and discover local venue recommendations.

Red Lion Hotels is also equipping its staff with Apple products. Valet staff will be provided with Apple Watches to manage car retrieval requests without needing to be present at the hotel's valet stand, and in the lobby, there will be self-service iPad kiosks for checking in and contacting customer support, all with the aim of streamlining the hotel experience for customers.

While this week was filled with loads of iOS news, what's likely the most time sensitive is the number of sales happening on the App Store right now. It seems like practically every iOS game (and app) developer either has their game or IAP inside of their game on sale. A great place to follow along with these sales is by keeping an eye on AppShopper.

There are too many to list, but if you're looking for just a few I'd consider the totally unique full-motion video game Her Story, potentially picking up the premium IAP in Super Stickman Golf 3 which is on sale for a buck, or grabbing my favorite game of all time for my iPad, FTL. Developers have indicated that Apple is going to do a larger feature on the App Store over the weekend to highlight even more things on sale for the holiday, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Kicking things off this week was the release of Builder Hall 6 in Clash of Clans. It adds two new units, The Night Witch and the Roaster. Full patch notes are here, which likely won't mean a whole lot to you unless you play Clash of Clans. In that case, just know that Supercell continues to add an unbelievable amount of content, and if you start playing now, you'll have years worth of stuff to do.

In other Supercell news, they released a short film on the connections made inside of Hay Day. "Neighborhoods" inside of Hay Day are the equivalent of a clan or guild in other games. Hay Day is a fabulous game to get total non-gamers started playing games. It's unbelievably accessible, and like Clash of Clans, the amount of content in the game is unreal.

Suzy Cube is high on the list (if not at the top) of upcoming indie games we're most excited for. We've seen it year after year in various stages of development at GDC, and it's an unbelievably competent 3D platformer that works so well with touch controls it's borderline weird. They're on the hunt for beta testers right now, which hopefully means that the game's release isn't that far off. Either way, Suzy Cube is something everyone should have on their radar.

Things are continuing to heat up in the world of Hearthstone, as the next expansion will be revealed on July 6th. Internet sleuths are fairly certain that the next set of cards will be based on World of Warcraft's expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, which is largely based on trademark filings. Whatever the expansion is, it'll be released in August.

The Death Road to Canada "COCCYX" update is now live, making an already awesome game even better. This update adds a whole slew of new content including an extensive system of unlocking perks, traits, upgrades, and other one-off bonuses with a new in-game currency called "Zombo Points". Additionally, there are new characters to recruit, new events, and some tweaks to the ending of the game depending on the game mode and characters you choose.

The Twitch app got a massive update which redid how just about everything works. You can now easily find new streams to watch, as well as quickly flip through all sorts of active streams. Of course, if you're looking for something to watch in the new and (vastly) improved app, check out our Twitch channel.

In the world of The Elder Scrolls: Legends, the Skyrim expansion mentioned a while ago in these roundups is also now live. The expansion adds a new "shout" type of card, which work a lot like the magical shouts you can do in the full Elder Scrolls game, Skyrim. Additionally, you can get some free cards if you pre-register for the game's release on Android.

Over on TouchArcade we often post a lot of feature articles on the best games in a particular genre, and we recently published a list of the best tactical RPGs on the App Store. There is a whole bundle of unbelievably great hardcore games in that list, so if you've found yourself annoyed by the proliferation of casual titles on iOS, definitely give that a look.

Last, but not least, following up on the fervor surrounding the soft launch and eventual release of Supercell's Brawl Stars, the developers mentioned that the game isn't coming to Android anytime soon as the nature of Android's APK system allows the pre-release game to spread like wildfire. It's worth reiterating what we've already posted before: If you don't have an iPhone, you can't play the game, and all the Brawl Stars APK download links out there are scams.

That's it for this week, and as always, for all of this news and way (way) more coverage on the world of iOS gaming, head on over to TouchArcade. Also, if you're into podcasts at all, be sure to subscribe to ours. We release a new episode every Friday and they're similarly a great way to keep up on the games aisle of the App Store.